A Pirate's Life
by Jazzlvr123
Summary: What if Elizabeth had a twin sister, who dreamed of being a pirate? What if she got tangled up in Jack Sparrow's adventures? Set during COBP and on. Jack Sparrow/OC


**Summary: What if Elizabeth had a twin sister, who dreamed of being a pirate? What if she got tangled up in Jack Sparrow's adventures? Set during COBP. Jack Sparrow/OC**

_- Prologue -_

_Pirates_

"Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for me…" I softly sing under my breath, feeling the salty winds brush through my long and dark chocolate strands of poker-straight hair. My eyes - blue as the ocean - scan the gray and dull fog before me. The ocean, which had once been visible, was now not.

Elizabeth comes over to me and leans along side me, inhaling the air like I once did. Lizzie was my best friend, my fraternal twin sister (this meant that we didn't look alike), but yet we had two different personalities. Sure, we both loved pirates, I wanted to be one when I grew up, but Lizzie was more timid while I adventurous.

She was also more prim and proper, and I think that's why Daddy favors her more. Today she's wearing a pretty blue-and-white elegant dress with beads. I'm wearing just some breeches of my father's when he was a young boy and a white shirt; I'm looking more like a pirate than anything.

"Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for me," I sing again, louder and Lizzie cracked a grin. We both loved that song.

"Drink up me hearties, yo, ho…" We sing in unison, laughing and giggling and too caught up to see Gibbs' hand being place on Elizabeth's shoulder.

"Quiet, missies," he warns us, "cursed pirates sail these waters. You want to call 'em down on us?"

Elizabeth looks up wide-eyed at him.

I, on the other hand, proudly proclaim, "Of course! I've always wanted to meet a pirate! I'm gonna be one someday."

Gibbs merely smiles and rolls his eyes and I don't know why. I was serious when I said I would become a pirate. When I get older, I'm going to head off and look for a ship to work on. Maybe when I'm twenty or so.

"Mr. Gibbs," someone says and I see Norrington come up. He was a dashing young man, wearing a ton of Royal Navy, and was glaring sternly at Gibbs. Standing next to him is my father, brass buttons on his favorite thick blue jacket. Daddy's the governor.

"That will do," Norrington tells Gibbs.

"They was singing about pirates," Gibbs protests. "Bad luck to sing about pirates with us mired in this unnatural fog - mark my words."

"Consider them marked," Norrington says sarcastically, "on your way."

Gibbs nods. "'Aye, Captain." He's about to leave when he looks back at my sister and I. "Bad luck to have women on board, too. Even two mini'ture ones."

I cross my arms and huff. "I'm not a woman! I'm a pirate!"

Gibbs doesn't say anything but returns to his deck-swabbing duties, taking a swig from his flask.

Norrington stares at me in utter disbelief and I don't know why. "Think again, Miss Swann. Vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them. I intend to see to it that any man who sails under a pirate flag, or wears a pirates' brand, gets what he deserves: a short drop and a sudden stop."

I don't know what Norrington means when he says this. A short drop and sudden stop? Was that some kind of secret code? Gibbs gets our attention and I see him skillfully mime somebody being hanged.

Lizzie and I gasp.

"That's terrible," I say.

Daddy looks at me and my more sensitive sister. "Captain Norrington, I appreciate your fervor, but I am concerned about the effect this subject will have on my daughters."

"My apologies, Governor," but he doesn't sound sorry at all. This is why I never liked Norrington in the first place.

"Actually, I find it all fascinating," Lizzie says quietly, smiling.

"I want to be a pirate when I get older, a captain!" I tell Daddy brightly. "Steering me own ship, ordering me crew…" And this really was the dream I had. First I'd be just a crewmember and then I'd work my way up.

"And that's what concerns me. Elizabeth, Olive, we will be landing in Port Royal very soon, and beginning our new lives. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we comport ourselves as befits our class and stations?"

No, I think sharply. But instead, Lizzie and I both say, "yes, Father," and turn back out into the sea. We look out over the bow rail; it is still foggy and the beautiful sea is not visible.

"You really think it would be exciting to meet a pirate?" I ask her quietly. Lizzie usually never said things like that, usually she told me she feared pirates and she was scared of thinking of me becoming one.

"Of course," she answers, breathing deeply. The sea smells of salt and water, with a hidden tang of something I can't recognize. "If your planning on being a pirate, then I've got to like them, right?"

I nod. Suddenly, something catches my attention. A raft…holding a boy! The boy has sandy hair and is unconscious, laying on the raft. There was nothing to show how he got there or where he was from.

"Look!" I call to the others. "A boy! In the water!"

Lizzie looks and gasps.

"Man overboard!" Norrington shouts to the crewmembers and the others on the ship.

"_Boy _overboard," Elizabeth corrects gently.

"Fetch a hook! Haul him out of there!"

Lizzie and I move in to get a closer look, our curiosity peaking. The sailors use a boathook to snag the boy as he passes. Norrington and Daddy haul him aboard and lay him on the deck. From what I could see, he had no injuries.

"He's still breathing," Norrington informs us and Lizzie lets out a sigh of relief.

"Where did he come from?" Daddy asks curiously as he looks over the boy with curious brown eyes.

Gibbs turns and breaths, "Mary mother of God…" And we turn away from the boy to find the sea no longer empty. I hold my breath as I stare at the wreckage; a ship is in pieces, what is left burns, and a ragged British flag hangs limply from the stern.

"What happened here?" Daddy asks in the softest of voices. Everything is dead silent.

"An explosion in the powder magazine. Merchant vessels run heavily armed," Norrington explains to everyone.

"Lot of good it did them…" Gibbs says quietly and Daddy shoots him a look. "Everyone's thinking it! I'm just saying it! _Pirates_!"

Pirates did this? Amazing…It makes me even more excited to become one.

"There is no poof of that," Daddy says dismissively. "It could have been an accident. Captain, these men were protection. If there is even the slightest chance one of those poor devils is still alive, we cannot abandon them!"

"Of course not, Governor." Norrington looks at the crew. "Come about and strike the sails. Unlash the boats! Gunnery crew…jackets off the cannons." Norrington turns to Daddy. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." Then, he turns to two sailors. "Move the boy aft. We'll need the deck clear."

"I want to help," I demand harshly as they are lifting the boy.

Daddy sighs. "Elizabeth, Olive, I want you to accompany the boy. He's in your charge now. You'll watch over him?"

"Is it an important job?" I question.

Daddy nods and I nod back, smiling. Lizzie only makes her way to the boy, who is positioned behind the wheel, and I hurry to catch up. Elizabeth kneels beside the boy while I stand above them.

His fairly cute, but by the way Lizzie's blushing, she thinks he's adorable. Plus, I'm her twin, so I would know. Lizzie reaches out, gently brushes the sandy hair from his eyes -

Suddenly, he grabs hold of her wrist, awake now. Lizzie and I are startled and I kneel beside the boy also. Lizzie takes his hand in hers, smiling sweetly.

"My name is Elizabeth Swann," she tells him softly. "And this is my sister, Olive Swann."

"Will Turner," he answers back uncertainly.

"We're watching over you, Will," Lizzie comforts him and I nod slightly and smile.

I see his grip on her hand tighten and then he slips back into unconsciousness. His movement has opened the collar of his shirt; I see a thin chain he is wearing around his neck. Lizzie notices too, and she tugs it free to reveal a gold medallion. One side is blank.

Lizzie turns it around and we both gasp loudly. A skull is gazing up at us. Vaguely Aztec in design, but to our eyes, it means only one thing:

"You're a pirate," we both breath, Lizzie's more surprised and mine more excited. A pirate was in front of me, asleep, but in front of me.

Lizzie glances back and turns around. She quickly snatches the medallion and hides it underneath her coat. "Just for safekeeping," she tells me and I nod.

"Did he speak?" Norrington comes to us with his lips pursed.

"His name is William Turner," Lizzie tells him softly. "That's all we found out."

"Very good."

He nods and hurries off quickly. Lizzie and I steal away to the stern of the ship and we examine the prize we stole. The wind whips harshly and we look up. Over the sea, moving through the fog, is a large vessel with black sails.

"Pirate ship," I breath quietly.

Lizzie is too frightened to move or cry out and I was mesmerized. We looked at the top and saw the Jolly Rodger sign, a frightening skull with two crossbones. Lizzie held up the coin and we matched it up when -

"Lizzie, Olive, we're here!"

And I knew that I would definitely follow my dream and become a pirate, no matter what my family said or what it took.


End file.
